23rd European Seminar on Extension and Education
‘Transformative learning: new directions in agricultural extension and education’
Chania, Crete, Greece, 4 - 7th July 2017

 Chania, Greece. Photo: ESEE web-site

The 23rd European Seminar on Extension (and) Education (ESEE) was held in the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania, and hosted by the Laboratory of Agricultural Extension, Rural Systems & Rural Sociology, Agricultural University of Athens. The main aim of the conference was to deepen understanding of current developments in agricultural education and extension and the ways they promote transformative learning.

Julie Ingram (CCRI, University of Gloucestershire, UK) presented a paper, ‘Integrating Co-innovation into Research Translation: Developing a Stakeholder-driven Methodology’ on behalf of a VALERIE team of co-authors from CCRI and Wageningen University.

Education and extension (advisory) services have always been a core element in the support and development of farmers. The support provided by such services has been brought into focus in recent decades with farmers and land managers being urged to innovate to overcome multiple and complex challenges (volatile markets, rising costs, unpredictable climate, environmental and resource degradation etc.). In line with this, there has been an evolution in the way researchers understand (in theory and practice) extension and innovation, shifting from perspectives that regard innovation as science-driven to ones that see it as a social process of interactive learning. This provides the backdrop for this seminar and the VALERIE paper.

The VALERIE paper authored by Julie Ingram, Pete Gaskell, Jane Mills, Janet Dwyer (CCRI) and Pieter de Wolf (Wageningen University) describes experiences in the VALERIE project where researchers and stakeholders (farmers, foresters, supply chain actors etc.) have worked together to translate research by identifying research problems and solutions and adapting these to local contexts (co-innovating).

Further information on the conference can be found here: http://www.esee2017.gr/en/about/about